AN AMAZING THING HAPPENED THIS WEEK…

As many of you know, I’ve been unemployed since the end of June. Every morning since then I’ve searched the internet, the want ads and my network of friends trying to find a job. My wife, my family, my good friends and I have been praying that something would come my way.

Monday, the 10th, our prayers were answered! I was offered a position and I’ve accepted it. The “new” (more on that in a minute) job, unfortunately, will affect SECTION 11. I will be moving back to Texas and go to work for the company I left in 1999 to move to Nevada. In fact, I’ll be getting my old job back! So it really isn’t “new”!

Now what to do with SECTION 11. I began this blog as a vehicle to follow Nevada legislation regarding firearms laws. Now that I’ll be moving to Texas I’ll have no more connection to the purpose of SECTION 11.

That being said, I ask any of you loyal readers to take up the cause! The new legislature starts up again in February. City councils and county commissions will continue to meet. Nevada needs someone to “remain ever vigilant…ever watchful”.

Good luck my friends, I bid you Adios and Vaya Con Dios!

WE MUST REMAIN EVER VIGILANT…EVER WATCHFUL

A Week Has Gone By…Now What??

It’s official…we got slaughtered! Not only did McCain lose, but more importantly Bob Beers and Dr. Joe Heck both lost. The loss of these two pro-gun Nevada State Senators is a real blow. Our work is really going to be cut out for us with the upcoming legislative session.

Dr. Heck had prefiled a bill to allow Concealed Firearms Permit holders qualifying on one semi-automatic to carry any semi-automatic. What will happen with his bill is anybody’s guess. Our nemesis, Bernie Anderson of Sparks, got re-elected and he was the one opposed to this during the last session. We’ll keep you posted as we monitor the prefiled bills.

One bit of good news, James Settlemeyer was re-elected up in Washoe County. He has prefiled the Assembly companion bill to Dr. Heck’s Senate bill. So let’s hope that we can get Dr. Heck’s bill picked up by someone in the Senate and we can go forward on this issue.

I’ve been looking at all the gun blogs since the election and, friends, I tell you it’s not just Section 11 that’s concerned about the next four years. From California to Maine the consensus is that the days of Clinton will be looked back on with fondness after Obama gets going.

It’s been reported that if every American that owns a gun had voted for McCain then Obama would have lost by nearly 25 Million votes! That’s right 25 Million votes! There are 80 Million gun owners in the U.S. McCain received 57 Million votes and Obama received 65 Million. If one assumes that all of McCain’s voters owned guns, then what in the Hell happened to the other 23 Million gun owners??

I just can’t understand the mindset of these people. Ben Franklin had it right when he said, “They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety”.

It appears that once more we will be called upon to be the sheep dogs protecting these sheep from the wolves of the world. May the good Lord watch over us as we continue the struggle.

WE MUST REMAIN EVER VIGILANT…EVER WATCHFUL

My Stomach is in Knots

With just a couple of days left until the election, I am not feeling well. The polls don’t look good, especially in the “swing states”. Here in our beloved Nevada the minions of evil seem to be surging ahead…it makes me sick!

No matter what happens on November 4th I am going to follow the words of wisdom from my favorite president.

FROM MY COLD DEAD HANDS!

WE MUST BE EVER VIGILANT...EVER WATCHFUL

Nine Days And Counting…

If you haven’t voted already, and haven’t made up your mind up on who should get your vote, then here are my choices for your consideration.

President/Vice President---John McCain and Sarah Palin (if you choose any other then what are you doing reading a gun blog??)

House of Representatives—
District One: Kenneth Wegner (one of the strongest pro-gun candidates in the U.S)
District Two: Dean Heller (the strongest conservative Nevada has in Washington)
District Three: Jon Porter (reluctantly) or Joe Silvestri (an ice cube's chance in Hell)

The rest of the down ballot candidates are very important, but you can find voter guides in many other places better than Section 11. The NRA’s list is as good as you will find. Click HERE to see who they have determined are those that will best represent our gun rights.

It is imperative that you exercise your right to vote. It is imperative that you vote for pro-gun candidates. It’s imperative that you get your friends, relatives, neighbors, co-workers, church group, hunting buddies and everyone else that you know to vote for those candidates that wish to preserve our way of life.

Obama and the Democrats are dangerous! They will lead us further into Socialism. They will take away our few remaining freedoms. They will take away our guns. (If you don’t believe this, go HERE to see Obama’s record on guns).

Southern Nevada has been strongly Democratic for a long time and those of you living here have supported Shelley Berkley, Harry Reid, and others who have been slowly taking away our freedoms by their votes. Why do they keep getting re-elected? Because they bring home the pork! Folks it’s time to take a stand! Tell these candidates how you feel by voting for someone, anyone, else!

Yes, I know that Harry Reid is not up for re-election this time, but by defeating as many Democrats as possible it will send a message to the Majority Leader that all is not well in his home state!

If our candidates lose, we all will lose. Vote with logic, not emotion. If you haven’t done your homework yet it’s still not too late to do so. Our very existence as a free land is at stake!

WE MUST BE EVER VIGILANT…EVER WATCHFUL

Starting an Organization…is it Really an Option?

I’ve received a couple of emails regarding my last post. Not really much of a response, I guess I’ve got to figure out a way to get more folks to read Section 11.

With the 75th Nevada State Legislature set to begin February 2nd, we don’t have a lot of time to get some sort of organization together if we wish to have any impact. That’s not to say that individual Nevada residents have no voice. Quite the contrary. Last session we aggressively pursued a number of bills that were either anti-gun, anti-hunter or were positive toward our cause. Our results were excellent.

With the exception of the gutting of S.B. 92, we were nearly 100% in our efforts. We saw bad bills defeated and positive bills passed. We can’t, however, take it for granted that this coming session will be the same.

Depending on the upcoming election, we could see some very negative bills come down the road that will be hard for us to defeat. State Senator Bob Beers and State Senator Joe Heck are both being targeted for defeat by national organizations. If either or both lose then the balance of power in Carson City will be lost. Both of these guys have been on our side in the past, but there’s no saying what their opponents will do. The NRA has given Shirley Breedon a “?” rating (she’s Joe Heck’s opponent”). Alice Copening, Bob’s opponent, has a NRA rating of “A”---I have no idea how they came up with that one! Regardless, it’s imperative that Bob and Dr. Joe be re-elected! If you live in their district make sure you get to the polls and cast your vote!

(For a complete list of Nevada Candidates and their NRA ratings click HERE)

Without a viable statewide organization we cannot act proactively. All we can do is mount responses as bills come forward instead of influencing legislators to introduce bills that would be beneficial. What do I mean by this? How about Clark County’s exemption from pre-emption? Or our convoluted concealed carry laws? Both could be addressed with bill drafts if we had an organization that could present, as a group, legislation to candidates that we supported and helped to get elected.

So, what are your thoughts? Is it too late to get out the vote for pro Section 11 supporters? We have less than 3 weeks before the election and early voting starts today.

One last note…you can now subscribe to SECTION 11! Go to the bottom of the page and check it out.

We Must Remain Ever Vigilant…Ever Watchful

That Was The Week That Was

I got back from the Gun Rights Policy Conference a week ago today. It was a very interesting couple of days. It was primarily a “report to the troops” as speakers went over the Heller Decision, media bias, and more. The noted journalist and radio talk show host, Tom Gresham, wrote the following report much better than I could. You can read his impressions HERE on the “Shooting Wire”. His take on the GRPC is at the bottom of the page. It was a real thrill to hear, in person, Alan Gura. Gura was the lead attorney on the Heller case, what a remarkable young guy!

Our own Don Turner, the head of the Clark County Shooting Park, was part of a discussion on shooting range closures. We are truly blessed to have Don working for us here. He told me that the range is going forward in spite of the lawsuit that has been filed. Clark County is responding to the allegations and the court isn’t expected to make a decision regarding an injunction until later this year or maybe early 2009.

I approached one organization that was there about helping us take on the firearms related ordinances here in Clark County. This group helped fund the Heller case. The bottom line from them was that we need an active organization and an attorney that will prosecute the case. I’m pretty disillusioned about either of these getting accomplished. As we all know the Nevada Rifle and Pistol Association is not very active. Some of the pages on their website haven’t been updated in five years! NRPA is about the only statewide group we have.

Yes, there is a Gun Owners of Nevada organization. Click HERE for their website. Unfortunately they don’t have a lot of members as they’re really just getting started. So we’re kind of back to square one. If we don’t have an organization then how can we gather funds to pay for an attorney? I’m still trying to come up some idea of how we can proceed.

Here’re a couple of pics from the GRPC. The first is a stack of books that were given to every one of the more than 400 participants. The second is Don Turner addressing the Conference.

When I got back I had to prepare for a minor medical procedure. I had it on Tuesday and was like a Zombie all day Wednesday. Ugh! I got a little done on Thursday and really enjoyed the Palin/Biden debate. I spent some time over at “Eldorado 2008”, the annual Nevada State Cowboy Action shoot on Friday.

It was great to see friends from all over the Southwest there. I was really bummed that my current finances just wouldn’t allow me to participate this year. I think it’s the first one I’ve missed since the inaugural back in 2000 at Nellis AFB. The Nevada State Men’s Champion for 2008 is Belt Buckley and the Women’s Champion is Penny Pepperbox. Congratulations to them and all of the Eldorado 2008 winners and participants!!

WE MUST REMAIN EVER VIGILANT…EVER WATCHFUL

Pot Shots and Random Thoughts!

A few things of interest have drifted across my desk in the last few days.

2008 Gun Rights Policy Conference---I leave tomorrow morning for Phoenix to attend the GRPC. I still don’t know what the agenda will be, but I’m looking forward to getting out of town for a while. Look for a report sometime next week.

Prefiled Bills for the 75th Session of the Nevada State Legislature---We are just a few months away from the beginning of the next legislative session. The following firearms related bill have been prefiled:

138--Settlemeyer sponsor--changes concerning firearms

15-200--Heck sponsor--Revises provisions regarding the carrying of a concealed firearms
15-255--Mortenson sponsor--establishes castle doctrine

512--Bobzien sponsor--establishes an apprentice hunter program

I believe that the first two, 138 & 15-200, are to allow the individual qualifying one semi-automatic be allowed to carry any semi-automatic without having to go through the qualification process again. We’ve already mentioned Assemblyman Mortenson’s proposed Castle Doctrine bill. Finally Assemblyman Dave Bobzien has prefiled a bill addressing an apprentice hunter program. My understanding of this concept is to allow youngsters to go hunting with an experienced hunter acting as a teacher.

None of these prefiled bills are currently available for us to examine, but when they are we’ll let you know.

Fact checkers can’t get it right---My good friend Elizabeth Crum over at “E!! The True Conservative Story” put me onto this one. Over at National Review Jim Geraghty provides a fact check on the “fact checkers” concerning the NRA’s attack on Obama’s record on guns. Read this interesting article HERE. It basically proves that the NRA got it right!

Can you hear me now?---The Las Vegas Sun reported today on a lawsuit filed by a former Channel 13 reporterette, Christina Brown. Ms. Brown is suing the Las Vegas Metro Police Department because they let her shoot some of their semi-auto rifles back in 2006. You just got to read THIS!

I can think of a bunch of snappy comments on this woman’s claim, but as I’m a tinnitus sufferer myself, I can relate to what she’s going through. I can’t relate to her methods of relief, however. There is no cure for tinnitus and no amount of money will allow her to hear as she did before the event. Whether shooting “more than 50 rounds” of .223 with muff type hearing protection lead to her tinnitus will be up to a jury to decide, I guess.

WE MUST REMAIN EVER VIGILANT…EVER WATCHFUL